Unverified Voracity: The Game Edition

First... in the words of Rasheed Wallace: "The Game! The Game!" Reading RJYH definitively proved to me that Alabama (the state) has no equal when it comes to college football fervency and Warren's recent post about handling the "Shroud of Bear" put any lingering doubts to rest, except those about the sanity of an entire state. But don't tell me that today. Alabama-Auburn may have more passion behind it, but they'll never run out in late November to find the world around them frozen. There's something biblical about cold-weather football, and I'm not talking my nipples-are-somewhat-erect cold. I'm talking the kind of cold that makes a stadium resemble March of the Penguins, the kind of cold that goes beyond annoyance and causes 110,000 people to concentrate very hard upon not dying. It exemplifies the nobility in certain kinds of sheer stupidity.

And there are times when it doesn't feel particularly cold at all.

In that vein, one last linkdump for your edificiation. Blah Me To Death has collected dozens of links as a starting point. Sam at BC&RS exhorts you to wear your blue, and also forwards an email that's being batted back and forth amongst the students:

-Bring water bottles and change (remember, the nazi gate-watchers
won't let you bring them in when they're opened, so if you're planning
on bringing your own special refreshments, make sure to hide it well),
and when you're done drinking your "water", make some noise!

If you're interested. Oh, yeah, and:

don't be a jackass...

Amen, though since I doubt anyone reading is the type of person to be said jackass, the take-home message is to do something about any jackassery you should see. There are east coast frat boys out there, people: let them know to save that stuff for when they're back home spending daddy's money at the Meadowlands.

Vijay at IBFC is having a Rebus contest. I only got the first one.

Wojo checks in with a column that shows he's paying attention:

Quickly, the Buckeyes' obsession returned, and things really got nasty last year in Columbus (city slogan: "$#@& Michigan").

Oh, Wojo, lone bright spot in Detroit's sports opinion scene. The OZone must be putting on the reverse jinx or something, predicting a 24-20 Michigan victory.

Meanwhile, we have proof that Buckeye fans are nuts:

"You see," Peterson continued, getting spiritual about why the rivalry means so much down here, "this is God's team. You can just put Heaven, Ohio," for the dateline.

Look. I could try to put a joke here. But all it would do is distract from the sublime quality of the above quote. So just read it again.

Yes, the bouncing sport gets underway tomorrow against Central Michigan. The Chippewas do not look to be a threat after dropping a game to a D-2 school. Michigan is favored by 25. Poster Central40 on The Wolverine posted some impressions from an open practice he attended that has good news...

-Horton: Really impressive. Looked smooth and in control during drills, didn't push the envelope, but was almost too unselfish-- maybe trying to get others involved. Looks to be ready for a big year.

-Abram: Welcome back. Abram was money from the outside and finished well on the fast break (often 1 on 1). Guy is Mr. consistency, will never wow you, but you'll look up at the scoreboard and see he's put up 15-20 points.

-J. Smith: Guy is continuing to prove the doubters wrong. People said he can't handle the full court pressure-- he broke it with ease. People say his jumper is broke-- he nailed multiple threes and made a lot more than he missed. People said he misses the clutch free throws-- nailed 2 sets of 2 when team sprints were on the line (all four swished). Most impressive of the freshmen (thus far), hands down. Always thought this guy would be well suited for college and Amaker isn't looking like the idiot that everyone thought he was for taking him early.

...and bad:

-Harris: Started out slow, but finished better. Still looks slowed by his foot, doesn't look explosive or quick. His shot was a little off and he didn't take it to the hole all that much. I will reserve further judgement until the CMU game, but he looks like he's 80% out there.

-Sims: Blah. Same old, same old. Looks like an all-star the time and a tennis star (to quote SBell) the other half. Would love to see the guy play pissed off one game-- he'd have 25 and 15.

Sounds like the other two freshman are very raw at the moment.

Scout has more on Alex Legion, by the way. Does not sound like a Crawford-esque decommit is even a remote possibility.